Question of the Week: What’s the next TPB After Captain Marvel First Contact?

I’ve gotten a handful of questions about Peter David and Chriscross’s Captain Marvel series that I list in part 1 of the modern Marvel reading order. Sorting through the trade paperback collections on Amazon can be very confusing, as can sorting through the issues on Marvel Unlimited, so let me lay it out.

From 1999 to 2004, there are two separate runs on Captain Marvel, both written by Peter David. From 1999 to 2002, Captain Marvel knocks out issues #1 – #35 in the following issues. Here’s this Captain Marvel series on Marvel Unlimited. Notice that although there are 35 issues, Marvel Unlimited only includes up to issue #25.

At this point (October 2002), Captain Marvel is rebooted with a new number one issue, and extends in a second wave of 25 issues total. These 25 issues continue until September 2004, at which point Captain Marvel was cancelled altogether. The entirety of this Captain Marvel series should be available on Marvel Unlimited.

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About Dave

Dave is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Comic Book Herald, and also the Boss of assigning himself fancy titles. He's a long-time comic book fan, and can be seen most evenings in Batman pajama pants. Contact Dave @comicbookherald on Twitter or via email at dave@comicbookherald.com.

It’s nice to know that it’s not just a recent thing to see Marvel making a confusing mess in their endless pursuit of opportunities to slap “1st issue collectors’ item!!” on the cover of a comic.

“Captain Marvel” is surely the top example, though, with both Peter David’s Genis-Vell and the more recent Carol Danvers Captain Marvel both suffering from confusing and messy TPB releases. Do we REALLY need to have had SIX different Captain Marvel ongoing series since 2000?

Actually, Marvel has to publish new Captain Marvel’s periodically in order to maintain a trademark on the character. If they ever lose the trademark, DC will grab it right away so they can advertise their own Captain Marvel (AKA Shazam) that they own a copyright for.